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A Roman Catholic nun who was born in Hazleton and became "the Mother Teresa of street children" after reviving an organization that shelters runaway teenagers in major cities has died.

Sister Mary Rose McGeady, 84, the former leader of the New York City-based Covenant House, died Sept. 13 in Albany, N.Y., at the St. Louise House for retired nuns of her order, Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul.

She ran Covenant House for 13 years, starting in 1990 when the founder, the Rev. Bruce Ritter, resigned after some young men who stayed at the shelter accused him of sexually abusing them and after he loaned money to a pair of board members.

After the scandal, donations declined, and Covenant House closed shelters in some of the cities in which it operated across North and Central America.

Under McGeady's leadership, however, donations surpassed previous peaks and Covenant House began reopening shelters.

Covenant House had shelters in 11 cities when she took the job, but 21 when she left.

When people called to say they had a problem in their cities with homeless children, McGeady visited and investigated. If no other organizations existed to help, she would start raising money to open shelters.

"She had a vision for homeless kids. She wanted to be anywhere where they were," said Thomas Manning, the vice president of public relations and marketing who worked at Covenant House throughout her time there.

All shelters at Covenant House offer emergency housing, medical care, counseling and job training. Some provide programs for young mothers and babies.

Covenant House also offers longer-term opportunities. Young people who come for emergency shelter can remain in dormitories for up to 18 months while they go to school or gain job skills.

Before McGeady took the helm at Covenant House, she spent four decades helping troubled children, starting when she helped in an asylum for children while attending high school in Washington, D.C., where her family moved after leaving Hazleton.

Her father, Joseph McGeady of Beaver Meadows, and mother Catherine Mundie McGeady of McAdoo met at a Knights of Columbus Dance, she told a Standard-Speaker reporter and photographer who visited her at Covenant House in 1995.

Her parents married, lived at North Pine and Tamarack streets in Hazleton and had three children, Bill, Catherine, who is still living, and Mary Rose, the youngest.

When the Duplan Silk Mill closed and her father lost his job there, the family moved to Washington so he could take a job as an air conditioning engineer.

Mary Rose was just 6, but she recalled that her parents seemed to know everyone when they walked through Hazleton.

She carried that sense of community throughout her life and her work with children in urban communities.

In Washington, she attended a high school run by the Daughters of Charity of Saint Vincent de Paul and helped at the asylum on Saturdays. She joined the order and earned a degree from Emerson College in Boston and master's degree in clinical psychology from Fordham University in New York.

In Boston, she worked at a child-care center. She later ran the Astor Home for Children in Rhinebeck, N.Y., the Kennedy Child Study Center in New York, and was directing Catholic Charities for the Diocese of Brooklyn when chosen to lead Covenant House.

"She came prepared for this job. If you believe in Divine providence, somebody worked her whole life to come into this job at a time she was needed most," Manning said.

She retired in 2003, and the University of Scranton presented her with an honorary degree that year.

In retirement, she continued to help raise money for Covenant House.

Kevin Ryan, the current president of Covenant House, considered her a mentor. He referred to her as the "Mother Teresa of street children" and often drove two hours to visit her in Albany, Manning said.

"She was able to find the goodness in the hearts of street kids and taught us all to do it as well," Manning said. "Sister had a gift for reaching out to these kids and making them feel like they should, like they were children of God."

kjackson@standardspeaker.com

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